Developer gets prison for stealing housing money
Oscar Rivero, the developer at the center of Miami's affordable housing scandal, will serve 21 months in prison after pleading guilty Friday to one count of grand theft.
Oscar Rivero, the developer at the center of Miami's affordable housing scandal, will serve 21 months in prison after pleading guilty Friday to one count of grand theft.
The Miami Herald revealed waste, favoritism and lack of oversight at the Miami-Dade Housing Agency.
The Miami Herald revealed voter fraud in a city mayoral election, which was later overturned.
The Miami Herald profiled a local cult leader, his followers and their links to several area murders.
Miami Herald reporters won a Pulitzer for their coverage of the U.S.-Iran-Contra connection.
Miami Herald investigation led to the release of two men wrongfully convicted of murder twice and sentenced to death.
Miami Herald investigation helped free two persons wrongfully convicted of murder.
The Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust squandered millions on insider deals, pet projects and bad loans.
The Miami Herald revealed waste, favoritism and lack of oversight at the Miami-Dade Housing Agency.
House of lies
While local leaders try to clean up Miami-Dade county's scandal-ridden housing agency, the city's program is steeped in its own crisis, with botched projects and bad deals that have stranded thousands in decrepit homes.
Money to burn
A fire-safety program turns Miami-Dade firefighters into human smoke detectors - making millions in extra pay.
Secret court documents
More than 100 lawsuits are being hidden from the public on a secret docket in Broward Circuit Court, The Miami Herald found.
Boot camp beating
The sudden death of an apparently healthy Panama City teen at a military-style youth lockup prompted many to demand that the controversial programs be shut down.
Predators among us
A special state program to treat Florida's worst sexual predators is not only failing, but backfiring. Some of the most violent rapists and pedophiles are allowed to walk away with no treatment, monitoring or supervision.
BSO Scandal
Both the FDLE and Broward State Attorney's Office launched investigations into whether BSO sheriff's deputies falsified clearances of thousands of unsolved casses.
Tax cows
Florida's "greenbelt" law is one of the weakest in the country, largely unsuccessful in preserving farmland and easily exploited by developers.
Camillus House abuses
The executive director of Camillus House used his employees and homeless clients to renovate his own homes with thousands of dollars in labor and materials bought on the charity's credit cards, a Herald investigation has found.
Fields of despair
Florida is America's second-richest agricultural state. But for the farmhands who labor along the lowest rung of the food chain, the riches are a mirage.
Tornillo scandal
An investigation found that longtime union boss Pat Tornillo spent teachers' dues on personal luxuries.
Crumbling schools
Miami-Dade Public Schools squandered tens of millions of dollars on a mangled construction program, delayed crucial projects by months or even years, and trapped children in schools that are not only crowded, but obsolete, poorly maintained and in some cases downright unsafe, a Herald investigation found.
Neglect, death and DCF
A Miami Herald investigation found that at least 37 Florida children died of abuse or neglect in the last five years after prior warnings to the DCF went unresolved - a fatal breakdown that has left thousands of other children at risk.
Miami Police
In dozens of shootings since 1990, city of Miami police officers have shot unarmed people in the back, fired wildly at fleeing cars, and shot indiscriminately even when it put innocent lives at risk, a Herald review of every bullet fired by officers shows.
MIA probe
Miami-Dade politicians and lobbyists regularly asked the company managing Miami International Airport's massive expansion to contribute to a raft of political campaigns and pet charities, funneling money to causes of little or no benefit to the airport and its passengers.
The Miami Herald revealed voter fraud in a city mayoral election, which was later overturned.
The Miami Herald profiled a local cult leader, his followers and their links to several area murders.
The airport mess
Miami's tourism industry is threatened by politicians who run the airport for the benefit of cronies - not millions of passengers.
Collars for dollars
Cops call it "Collars for Dollars." It's how they turn arrests on the streets into money in their pockets. Until now, it has been a courthouse secret.
Shrinking palms
A prominent South Dade farmer, paid millions by Metro to landscape county roadways, charged taxpayers for towering royal palms while planting shorter, cheaper trees, a survey by The Herald shows.
Shattered trust
Records show that the court system supposed to protect vulnerable wards and to police South Florida's burgeoning private guardianship industry has failed.
A state of neglect
A Miami Herald review of hundreds of Florida abuse and autopsy reports shows that in the past five years, dozens of frail and disabled adults have died sick, starved, ridden with bedsores, bruises and broken bones -- the silent casualties of abuse, neglect and a welfare system that did little to protect them.
BSO sting
Hundreds of police records and interviews with law enforcement officers show that an undercover operation fueled a string of robberies and endangered the public. Now, investigators want to know if Broward Sheriff's Office deputies siphoned off stolen goods purchased with tax money.
Friends of the court
A group of private lawyers has run up six-figure incomes by repeatedly billing Dade County taxpayers for hours they did not work. Many times, the attorneys billed for more than 24 hours of legal work in a single day.
Troubles at JESCA
At a time when Miami's oldest inner-city social service agency could not make its payroll, two top executives cashed more than $100,000 in agency checks they wrote to themselves.
Public giveaways
The Florida Legislature gave away more than $100 million this past year -- public giveaways with little oversight and virtually no accountability for how the money was spent.
Judge Gale
A lengthy Miami Herald investigation reveals that Gale -- a judge since 1972, head of the bustling civil division since 1977 -- has doled out lucrative court appointments to friends, issued favorable rulings to select attorneys and declined to remove himself when his impartiality could be questioned. He enjoys a life style well beyond his public salary.
Florida's child-welfare system is a system that too often fails the 8,000 neglected and abused children it is entrusted to protect.
Miami Herald reporters won a Pulitzer for their coverage of the U.S.-Iran-Contra connection.
Port Everglades scandal
The port announced a $300 million expansion and said it would need taxpayers' cash to pay for it. Suddenly, the spotlight was on Port Everglades. Taxpayers, county officials and business groups wanted to know how the port was spending its money.
Miami Herald investigation led to the release of two men wrongfully convicted of murder twice and sentenced to death.
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